| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| Impeachment panel begins |
| 2008-12-18 |
| State lawmakers insisted Tuesday they could fairly investigate Gov. Rod Blagojevich following years of criticizing him as a terrible leader as they opened unprecedented impeachment proceedings against him. In the first hints of the drubbing to come, Democratic and Republican committee members struggled to tamp down their revulsion over the national embarrassment created by Blagojevich's arrest a week ago on charges he sought to sell everything from favorable government decisions to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. "There are many in this committee and many in this committee room who have been critical of this governor on a number of issues, but this committee must do its deliberations without regard to politics, without regard to differences of public policy and even without regard to whether the governor is competent and whether he's done his job well," said Rep. Lou Lang (D- Skokie). "It must only be about whether the governor has violated his constitutional oath." Blagojevich continued his weeklong silence, but his defense attorney planned to represent him Wednesday at the impeachment panel's first day of testimony. Brushing aside repeated calls for his resignation, the Democratic governor signed a bill into law and, according to an aide, was reviewing prison inmate petitions for clemency. |
| Posted by:Fred |